Rafa’s Instructions To Perez Were Prophetic

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

7:53am Friday, March 3rd, 2017

Commented 7 times

Ayoze Perez scored the most important goal that he has ever scored for Newcastle on Tuesday night when he calmly converted a pass from Christian Atsu who also stayed calm to pick out an unmarked Perez in the penalty box.

The move was started off by a fantastic cross field pass from Matt Ritchie that picked out Atsu on the left wing and the rest is now history.

Perez’ late goal gave Newcastle their most important win of the season and the double over Brighton, who showed they are a very good team on Tuesday night.

Ayoze Perez and Paul Dummett celebrate sensational winner Perez is staying calm though – much like he did on Tuesday night to score that great goal.

The Spanish forward was asked what Rafa had told him before he came on after 82 minutes.

This is what he told the local press as reported in the Shields Gazette today:

“Nothing special, but just what I had to do.”

“He told me to tell the players to stay calm, that it was 1-1 and we could win it if we stay calm, keep our heads and focus.”

“And we did win it.” “It was a massive win for us, an important goal at the end. “We got the three points which are really, really important because they put us back at the top.”

“The confidence has grown even more,” “We are doing really well away from home, but still we have done nothing.”

“We have to focus on Huddersfield, which is going to be another tough game, and we have to go into it with the same mentality.”

“The way we approached the Brighton game, we did it properly, and we have to do the same with the next two matches.”

“There are 90 minutes to play. You can start losing, but if your mentality is stronger, then you can win it.”

“We were better than Brighton in that way, and that’s why we won – so we need to do it again.”

“It must be one of the most important goals that I’ve scored for Newcastle,” “I’m really happy to be the one, but the most important thing is the three points.”

“We knew that this game would be really tough, they were playing at home, are a great team, but we knew we could win it.”

“The win means a lot for ourselves.” “We went 1-0 down, they were pushing and were better than us early on.”

“But the way we finished the first half, we knew we could still get something out of the game and win it.”

“And we did it.”

That was Perez’ 9th goal of the season and he is third on the list of Newcastle’s goalscorers this season and he again showed he has class and ability.

Player

League

Cups

Total

Dwight Gayle

23

0

23

Mat Ritchie

12

4

16

Ayoze Perez

8

4

12

Yoan Gouffran

5

2

7

Aleksandar Mitrovic

4

2

6

Mo Diame

3

3

6

Daryl Murphy

5

1

6

Jonjo Shelvey

5

0

5

Christian Atsu

5

0

5

Ciaran Clark

2

1

3

Jamaal Lascelles

3

0

3

Isaac Hayden

2

0

2

Grant Hanley

1

0

1

Chancel Mbemba

1

0

1

DeAndre Yedlin

1

0

1

Next up are Huddersfield tomorrow afternoon and that game is likely to be even more difficult than the game at Brighton – the Terriers have been in great form over the last couple of months.

7 comments so far

For some irony, sarcasm or any other form of humour does not work – mind, some to appear to have no sense of humour. Having an opinion is one thing, but constantly whining on is bound to get peoples’ backs up. And once the abuse and irritated replies start flying are said people happy? Unlikely, considering their usual misery! A balanced criticism is fine, but some of the posters are never happy. I could understand that last season, but as comment 60 says, we could well have been nowhere near top of the league, with all the unknowns before the season started. Thankfully, RAFA and the squad have pulled together and done brilliantly. Top scorers in the EFL, joint top defence with Brighton. We might get very close to my pre-season 105 point prediction!!

Not sure about others, but certain bloggers names appear, I now ignore their comment, expecting it to be completely negative and boring! Similar to when people bother me in the street, selling something, charity etc – I use the halt hand signal – say nowt – usually does the trick!

Can’t think of anyone more suited to our club, players and fans right now. His experience and calmness spreads through everyone, keeps the lid on over – hysterical reactions, as much as is possible at the toon anyway! The players seem to believe in him, he’ll they even all talk like him now. Notice when you’re reading their quotes they even use the same phrases / words. It’s not a case of smoke blowing, it’s just about recognising how he is turning this ailing juggernaut around in record time. He gets more patience, trust and time just based on who and how he is. And why shouldn’t he, given his record and standing in the game?

This Rafa debate thing is getting a little out of hand, I mean what is there to criticise about the man?

Look at our club before he showed up, we were in trouble and there is no doubt about that, we were clearly on course to crash and burn, and you would have to go a long way to find anything good to say about us.

Since Rafa came in he has (in a short space of time) turned the club around, plugged the holes, and backed us off the rocks, as many say we are top of the league, and have top goals scorer etc etc.

But it’s more than that, Rafa has restored the pride of the Geordie nation, given hope instead of fear, given heart, soul and belief to the players, and slowly the noise is returning to SJP.

Rafa doesn’t deserve criticism for mistakes by players on the pitch, that’s football it happens, and no doubt he works on correcting them. but instead of the team going to pieces as it did in the passed, they now get stuck in and look for victory sometimes snatching it from the jaws of defeat.

Rafa is not a god, he is not the Messiah, and no he’s not a very naughty boy either. what he is, is an elite manager who has come into a cesspool of deceit, lies and hypocrisy (generally know as one of Mike Ashley’s businesses) and restored pride, hope and passion, instead of dreading the next match, we now look forward to it. Rafa will make mistakes, we all do, but he makes up for them, and learns from them, and he has given us something to be proud of once again.

Firebug and does that mean we can’t comment on or say anything about a bad performance. The first half against Bristol was poor. Charlie in the Gallowgate called it as it was on here. I agreed with most of his comments after that game. It’s the self-righteous, holier-than-thou aspect of the Rafa Brigade that I don’t like. I’m a better supporter than you as I never complain. Nonsense.

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health update

My latest bone scans and CAT scans were completed this week and I met with my oncologist Dr. Dhruva to go over the results.

The stage four cancer remains stabilized and hasn't spread over the last six months.

I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in early 2017 after being in remission for six years.

There is no cure for stage 4 cancer - but there are treatments which attempt to prolong life.

I am upbeat with the results and remain in awe of the doctors and nurses at the Rex Cancer Center here in Raleigh, North Carolina

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